Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Chances are Our Lady spoke to St. Juan Diego in his native tongue, Nahuatl, a language in the Aztec family. Some believe she called herself Coatlaxpeuh, which roughly translates to "who crushes the serpent".

Where did Guadalupe come from?

In Extremadura, Spain is a monastery that holds a statue of the Blessed Virgin, one of the Black Madonnas of Europe, known as Our Lady of Guadalupe. This shrine was known, and since Guadalupe sounds similar to Coatlaxpeuh, it makes sense that when San Juan Diego told them her name, they would go with Guadalupe. Puerto Rico comes to mind as an example of the Spanish altering indigenous words. The Taino people called the island Boriken, for various reasons it morphed into Borinquen. Another example is the central Puerto Rican town of Orocovis, which derives it's name from the Taino chief Orocobix.

Another name used for this apparition of Our Lady is Our Lady of Tepeyac, for it was on Tepeyac hill that she spoke to St. Juan Diego.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Facing the threat of Italian nationalism, an international force of light infantry was formed to protect the Papal States. They were known as the Papal Zouaves. Zouaves refers to the Franco-North African Infantry regiments that wore funny looking uniforms inspired by a tribe of Berbers called Zouaoua. Well, they were relatively funny looking compared to the other troops at the time, with their baggy pants and fezzes. Zouaves were used on both sides of the U.S. Civil War, so you can easily contrast their uniforms with the conventional troops' attire, I digress.

They were a French based force, but were made up of Catholics from all over the world. It's pretty cool that Catholics men from different countries and cultures came together in the service of the the Holy Father. I'm kind of bummed that they don't exist anymore. I would have seriously considered joining this group had they still existed, since the Vatican Guard was not an option for me. They have this thing about being Swiss and taller than 5' 8".

Monday, December 3, 2012

St. Francis Xavier was of noble birth and planned on a career as a professor. Well, he was friends with fellow Spaniard St. Ignatius of Loyola. It wouldn't be a surprise to know that he didn't take that career path, instead St. Francis wound up being a hard core Jesuit missionary, preaching and converting people in the far East, from India to Japan.

He is a patron of missionaries, navigators, China, India, China, and Japan.